Lent Day 29.
For the word
the account
the story
of the cross
IS
FOLLY
to those who are perishing
lost
separated from God
and on their way to destruction.
BUT,
to us who are being saved
made whole
rescued from spiritual disease
and on their way to heaven,
IT IS
THE POWER OF GOD!
(1 Corinthians 1:18 – Peg’s Amplified Translation)
The cross.
An executioner’s greatest, most excruciating tool…
Used to silence insurrectionists.
But, even in death –
The Jesus-story would not be silenced…
Carried on through history.
So, with a hope of shutting it down –
And shutting up believers –
The cross became a mockery.
But, alas –
Even foolishness sat down…
…And, a new tactic stood up.
Make it decor.
Jewelry.
Cover it in precious metal, or gems, and, minimize it’s rough, splintery, obnoxious cruelty.
Even still, there’s no way to beautify an instrument of torture.
Try doing that with a guillotine…
From King Henry the VIII’s London Tower.
It was a cross!
An emblem of suffering and shame…
We may try to keep it on a hill far away,
Or relegate it to a far wall of a church,
Or place it out of sight atop a steeple…
But, over the course of our #lentenjourney, it is time to re-visit the cross…
To stand in its shadow.
There, under its resurrected memory,
On that hill far away…
There is still power
for those
who are on the way, hell-bent to destruction
to make a course correction
and be made whole (!)
fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.